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Henry Cejudo suffered his second straight loss at UFC 298 two weeks ago at the hands of Merab Dvalishvili. And while ‘Triple C’ has so far taken accountability for what he feels went wrong, his manager Ali Abdelaziz revealed a much deeper reason for how the fight turned out.
Ali Abdelaziz provides an excuse for Henry Cejudo’s UFC 298 loss
Abdelaziz recently sat down with The Schmo to give updates on some fights under Dominance MMA, namely Kayla Harrison, Justin Gaethje, Kamaru Usman, and reigning lightweight champion Islam Makhachev.
He also touched on Henry Cejudo’s performance against Merab, which he says was caused by an injury during training camp.
“This is the truth: Henry’s a very hard-headed guy. He said, ‘I signed a contract, I’m gonna fight.’
“There’s no excuse, he fought. Not taking anything away from Merab, because Merab did what he needed to do… He pulled his groin. Henry did not wrestle, didn’t spar for four weeks before the fight,” he explained.
According to Abdelaziz, it was why Cejudo appeared out of breath during the opening round.
“When was the last time we saw Henry Cejudo out of breath? Never. Henry Cejudo was out of breath in the middle of the first round. And he won the round.
“But in a way, you cannot, and you should not fight someone like Merab, who is a f—ng machine. He’s a machine, he has skills, he’s tough, and you come not preparing…
“Nobody goes to a fight a hundred percent, but Henry said, ‘I don’t pull out of fights.’ And he said ‘I’m gonna fight him,’ against (the advice) of his family, his coaches, everybody.”
Henry Cejudo assesses his performance
Henry Cejudo got a chance to rewatch the fight some days later. In a recent YouTube video he uploaded, he broke down some of the sequences and gave his assessment.
Overall, Cejudo was “pretty disgusted” by his performance. However, he did recognize the changes he needed to make while addressing his manager’s statement about being out of breath in the first round.
“It is what it is. There’s nothing I can do but just learn from it. Make adjustments during training camp. I think I’ve got to really figure that out, because in the beginning of round one, I was huffing and puffing. Even when I won the round, there was no big-time wrestling going on.
“These are things that I have to figure out and really make them right. I don’t know if I warmed up too hard early in the morning, but these are things that I’m gonna have to answer.”
Whether or not the injury happened, Henry Cejudo refused to use it as a reason for his performance that night. He does deserve some props for taking accountability.
What does Cejudo want next?
At 37 years of age, Henry Cejudo still has some fight left in him. And at the moment, he is looking to settle an apparent grudge with former flyweight champion Brandon Moreno.
“I think it’s time to settle it,” he said in another YouTube video. “I think the storyline’s there, I think the history’s there, I think you have two former champions that have lost and are now coming together to put on one of the greatest showdowns in UFC history.
“I’m just waiting for the call. Brandon Moreno, I’m going to finish this again. I want to fight you, I want to hurt you. I think we owe it to each other, I think we owe it to the fans. This is too good for this to not take place.”
The rift began when Moreno began training with Joseph Benavidez at Team Alpha Male. It happened at TUF 24, where Moreno was a contestant and ended up with team Benavidez.
Cejudo took it personally when Moreno helped Benavidez for the TUF Finale in 2016.
“I discovered that the dude had been training in Denver, Colorado, with Joseph Benavidez and Team Alpha Male or team whatever to help Joseph Benavidez to beat me.
“I was a guy who opened up my home, not just for [Moreno] but also for his family. I was a guy that was able to corner him too for his last five fights prior to him jumping into the UFC.
“Talk about a close relationship, so I think once I saw that I’m just like, damn, I get it.”
Henry Cejudo wants the Brandon Moreno fight for UFC 306 in September. It will be the first UFC event at the Sphere in Las Vegas.